You know how this game works by now: The Orlando Magic have taken Dwight Howard off the table — which sounds as definitive as the slam of a door — but that only means he’s off the market until that moment they get an offer that magically puts him back on the market, and we get to play this game all over again.

So it’s back to Melodrama, The Sequel. Somebody with an accepting attitude about inmates running the asylum might find this charming, but for the rest of us — specifically, the unbetwittered, non-fantasy types who don’t enjoy seeing half the league paralyzed by the AAU mentality — forgive us if we just lie back, close our eyes and let the idiocy pass until the playoffs start up again.

As for that assertion about refusing to allow this to become another “circus,” we have one question for Nets GM Billy King: How’s that top hat fitting there, Ringmaster?

Oh, and this question for commissioner David Stern: Explain why you had this lockout thing again? And how 200 hours is really enough to build 30 rosters before the preseason starts?

In other words, if you seek to place blame for this spectacle, it belongs ... everywhere. There are so many fish in the barrel you hardly know where to aim anymore.

Start with Howard, who comes across as just another jaundiced and callow superstar who must have his way, or he’ll hold his breath until March. At long last, he’s caught the AAU fever, so he might as well hijack his franchise and take it wherever his mood swings that day.

Apparently, that impulse to re-sign with Orlando passed pretty quickly (maybe he finally found out that Rich DeVos funds Focus on the Family?), so according to Yahoo, he’s started in with the move-me-or-lose-me ultimatum.

The interesting thing is that it took Howard longer to express this entitlement than most peers. The truth is, his reputation is that of a star who does NOT want to play with other great players, because he doesn’t like to defer much. It’s a well-known tale that Magic GM Otis Smith once asked Howard to submit a list of players he’d like to play with in Mouseville. According to one person familiar with the list, only two of the six players on it were starting quality.

The rest couldn’t play, period. But they all had this in common: All six would be subservient to Dwight Howard.

In other words, those stats in the series against Atlanta last spring — three assists, 33 turnovers — are a pretty fair glimpse into his willingness to play nice with others.

Meanwhile, the Nets are caught in the middle of somebody else’s reality show, and if this deal can’t be closed, they’ll catch some serious heat.

Bummer, eh? And you already can hear the easy second-guesses, which will mark King as guilty of two blunders that will cost his team quite a bit of momentum as they escape from Jersey:

• What’s with this video-game obsession to swing for the fences in every at-bat? Can’t anyone build a team systematically anymore? Wouldn’t Tyson Chandler have been an adequate solution in the middle if you’re convinced the center spot is the one that needs the biggest upgrade? Wouldn’t the wise approach be to move Brook Lopez — who deserves a move at this point — for a star-studded forward? Must it be only about stockpiling stars, or will anyone ever value substance over style anymore?

Don’t say it, we get it: Be Great For Brooklyn is the mandate. Maybe they can be — we wish them luck. But the Nets could have built a playoff team pretty easily given their assets, and that’s good enough to get noticed in Year 1. And if they overreach, they’ll have blown it.

• If this bid for Howard is not really King’s idea, then it’s fairly clear we’re dealing with another inmate-runs-asylum scenario ... the same inmate who managed to get ex-Jazz coach Jerry Sloan to walk away, if memory serves.

Anyway, business as usual, under the Big Top.

It’s been asked countless times in the last few weeks, but it’s worth repeating: The lockout was really supposed to be about parity, and honoring existing contracts without the usual cacophony, but the players had another idea.

Whether governed by geography or greed, narcissism or need, the stars clearly want to play with the other stars. Which means maybe there’s something to David Stern’s threat of contraction: Maybe they should just shrink this to a 10-team league, and everyone will be happy.

So should Orlando stand pat? Should the Magic move him? Frankly, we couldn’t care less. We were rooting for a real shock to the NBA’s system — just this once, it would have been nice to see a young and confused kid finally act like a mature pro.